Faculty Fund for Library Excellence

The UW Faculty Senate has unanimously approved a resolution establishing the Faculty Fund for Library Excellence.

Passed by the senate on March 10 and established March 25, the donation fund could help compensate for budget losses at the UW Libraries, and return the Libraries to their previous ranking.

The Faculty Council on University Libraries kicked off the fund with a $2,700 donation. Joyce Cooper, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and chair of the council, said donation goals will be discussed during the council meeting on April 6.

Thanks go to the voting members of the Faculty Council on University Libraries for this show of support for the Libraries:

According to the UW Libraries Triennial Survey, faculty members rate University Libraries the most important source of information for their work. From 1980 onward, the UW had been in the top 15 percent of American and Canadian research libraries, according to data from the Association of Research Libraries. Now, though, because of budget cutbacks, it’s in the top 25 percent.

Donations will be used to buy and preserve books, journals and other materials for libraries on all three UW campuses: Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell.

Tuesday, April 12, Libraries staff and students will wield cameras, solicit comments, and gather statistics for a 24-hour period to illustrate the value of libraries through stories, photographs and statistics.

Libraries Snapshot Day is a nation-wide effort sponsored by the American Library Association to illustrate the importance of libraries and to show the vast range of services and resources we provide to the campus, community and state. The goal is to create a one-day “snapshot” of what goes on in libraries by collecting user quotes, images, photos, and data related to library activity. We want to illustrate the kinds of services offered by the UW Libraries, and most importantly, the value these services add to teaching, research, and scholarship.

The information gathered will become part of a historic archive in the UW Libraries. Selected photos will be featured in our public Snapshot webpage and may be used in future library promotional material. This event is being conducted in all UW Libraries on all campuses.

Send us any comments you might have about Mathematics Research Library or the UW Libraries in general. The webpage below has links to tools you can use to send any comments or photos you want to share.